Richard Godsmark, previously the manager of Laurier’s OneCard office, has now been given new responsibility as the interim manager in the Information Technology department.

An information communication technology review from earlier this year recommended ways to look into improving IT services on campus, one of which was to combine the residence network and central ITS network into one large group.

“We had two small units with three technical people in each performing essentially the same function: keeping the network running,” said assistant vice-president of academic services Tom Buckley.

“We’ve brought two teams together with an eye to improve service delivery and help position us for what will be a major renewal project involving our network starting this summer.”

Godsmark will remain with the OneCard office and still holds his responsibilities there, but he has now been given additional responsibility, working with the IT department to oversee this combined group and work to improve the services provided at Laurier.

Buckley explained that as the manager of this new group, Godsmark will be working with his team to improve student services, such as wireless accessibility and activity as well as e-mail reliability on campus.

“We need to fix the core network and so this move brings the people who work at Laurier with those skills together on one team with one manager to help us through that transition.”

While the restructuring has now doubled Godsmark’s responsibilities, it is not the administrations intention to neglect either area.

“We recognize the importance of, number one, getting the physical network behaving the way it needs to and we also recognize the need for the OneCard operation to continue to function as it is,” said Buckley.

IT restructuring has also come into effect with Printing Services, who will be expanding their location to where the Hub is currently situated. They will also be improving equipment to increase what the department can offer; improving the accessibility of services available for students.

The new printing centre is set to be open for students by September of this year.